5 Fish I'll Never Keep Again

Most aquarium fish don’t die because your tank is dirty.
They die because their bodies, genetics, or biology were already working against them the moment you bought them.

In this video, I break down five fish I will never keep again — not because they’re dramatic or exotic, but because they fail quietly, confuse beginners, and teach the wrong lessons about what “easy” aquarium fish actually are.

These are the kinds of aquarium fish that look healthy right up until they aren’t.

Fish covered in this video:

Balloon Mollies — bred so short their organs can’t function normally

Fancy Guppies — heavy inbreeding, weak immune systems, random organ failure

Tiger Barbs — chronic stress machines that quietly destroy tankmates

Dwarf Gourami — widespread iridovirus causing slow, inevitable decline

Longfin Bettas — extreme fin drag, chronic exhaustion, constant fin damage

Why these fish keep failing in home aquariums:

Their anatomy is no longer compatible with normal swimming or digestion

Their genetics are too unstable to tolerate minor stress

Their immune systems collapse under conditions most fish survive easily

Their behavior creates invisible long-term stress in community tanks

Their disease risk is already baked in before you buy them

None of these fish usually crash your aquarium.
They don’t spike ammonia.
They don’t cause obvious disasters.

They just fade.

And when that happens, most people blame their care instead of the biology.

If you’ve ever kept one of these fish and wondered what you did wrong —
you probably didn’t.
#aquarium